Runner leaves eating disorders behind her

Carlsbad resident Charlotte Dwyer stretches before running the indoor track at Tri-City Wellness in Carlsbad. Dwyer is among the "Lucky 13" chosen for free fitness training for an upcoming half marathon.

/ Pam Kragen

Carlsbad resident Charlotte Dwyer stretches before running the indoor track at Tri-City Wellness in Carlsbad. Dwyer is among the "Lucky 13" chosen for free fitness training for an upcoming half marathon.

In four months, Charlotte Dwyer is determined to run her first half marathon.

Crossing the finish line will be a major milestone in the La Costa native’s road to recovery from the eating disorders that plagued her adolescence.

Dwyer is one of the “Lucky 13,” a group of North County adults who have overcome significant health crises to train for the Tri-City Medical Center Carlsbad Half Marathon on Jan. 19. This year’s Lucky 13 — chosen in a hospital-sponsored contest to receive six months of free pre-race training — includes men and women recovering from strokes, back and neck injuries, heart problems, fibromyalgia and diabetes.

Some of the past and present members of the Lucky 13 jog together in Carlsbad on Sept. 7, 2013. photo by Bill Wechter

At 22, Dwyer is the youngest member of the group (the oldest is 73), and her health issues are less easy to spot as the team members work out together on weeknights at Tri-City Wellness Center and during Saturday morning training runs. But her six-year battle with bulimia and anorexia nervosa has left deep emotional scars that are just now beginning to heal.

Lucky 13 coach Paul Carey said he has been amazed at how Dwyer has blossomed in the program.

“I’ve seen a huge change in her confidence from the very first week. Her spirit has grown immensely and she’s enjoying life quite a bit right now,” he said.

Dwyer said she is inspired by the other members of Lucky 13 (actually, this year Tri-City picked 14 winners for the fourth-annual contest).

“We all share our struggles and our strengths,” Dwyer said. “We’re all trying to get better and I’m pretty proud of us all.”

Dwyer said she was 14 when some friends at a summer fitness camp taught her their technique for staying thin — forcing themselves to throw up by putting their fingers down their throat. Eager to fit in, she purged all of her meals for the next two weeks and was thrilled when she lost some weight.

“It started out because of body issues, but it became a comfort thing where it was very soothing,” she said. “I had a high level of anxiety and found that whenever everything in my life was out of control, throwing up was something I could control. Afterward I would feel calm and clearheaded. I could empty out my thoughts in the toilet bowl.”

At 15, she began alternating bulimia with periods of anorexia, where she starved herself on just a few hundred calories a day.

“The worst period for me was when I lived on a single king-size Snickers bar and water for three weeks,” she said.

To get through the days, Dwyer said she would sleep in until 11 a.m., then try to keep from eating until 2 or 3 p.m. because she knew the moment she swallowed a bite of food, the cycle of “cleansing” would begin. She said she would vomit 10 to 12 times a day, on average.

“When you’re doing this for so long, you forget how to eat,” she said. “It becomes an obsession where it takes over your whole life. All I ever thought about was food — what time I would eat, what I would eat, how much I would eat. And when I did eat, all I could think about was that it would have to come out.”

She frequently fainted from hunger, and by age 16, her body began showing the effects of her eating disorders.

“My hair would fall out, my nails were brittle, my skin was always dry, my gums and teeth hurt and I was always tired,” she said, adding that acid-related damage to her stomach lining over the years has made her today both dairy- and gluten-intolerant.

For years she was able to keep her illness a secret from her family and friends, but at 17, she began vomiting involuntarily every time she bent over, so she decided to seek help. Although she improved for a while, at 19 she began purging again because of the stress caused by her parents’ divorce.

Although her family offered her support and treatment, Dwyer said that people with eating addictions can only get well when they’re ready. The moment for her came in 2010 when she sought the help of Carlsbad therapist Patsy Gaffney.

Gaffney, a licensed marriage and family therapist, said that studies show that 50 percent of American girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as fat, and the starving and purging weight loss technique is used by 80 percent of eighth grade girls. She said the treatment for Dwyer and other patients with eating disorders is complex and involves helping patients develop better self-esteem, changing behavior patterns, nutrition education and therapy and goal-setting.

Dwyer’s selection to the Lucky 13 is a positive step in her recovery, Gaffney said.

“Eating disorders are shrouded in shame and secrecy, so to be ... gifted with this experience exposes the eating disorder, validating its tragic significance and removing any minimizing or denial of the impact of her struggle. It speaks to the opportunities afforded in a life of recovery,” Gaffney said in an email.

Gaffney said that a heavy exercise program can sometimes trigger a relapse, but because Dwyer doesn’t have a history of compulsive exercise, the half marathon goal is a good one.

Dwyer said she hasn’t relapsed since February and she can’t imagine backsliding again. She now approaches meals with thoughtful planning and enthusiasm. She is learning to cook and she keeps healthy snacks by her side.

She has also enrolled in a one-year therapy training program with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Her goal is to work at a clinic where she can counsel teens with eating disorders. Although her problem was severe, it was not unique. When she was in high school, Dwyer said three-quarters of the girls she knew were subsisting on 500- to 700-calorie-a-day diets.

“It’s a lot bigger problem than people realize because it’s such a secret,” she said. “If I have one message for these girls it would be that being strong is not about starving yourself for a week. Being strong is about being able to admit that you need help and making the changes to get healthy again.”

The Lucky 13

Joining Dwyer on the run are other winners of the “Lucky 13” program. They include Oceanside Chamber of Commerce Chair Don Reedy, who sustained a neck injury in a car accident, and Yvonne McMahon, a Vista teacher who was an avid short-distance runner before a back injury temporarily took her out of commission.

One of last year’s Lucky 13 team members, Michelle Bell, was sidelined a month before the race with an unrelated broken foot. The wellness center invited her back to train with the team this year and complete her first half marathon.